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Not to disagree with any views here already, but.
If you garden in a place that has almost no organic matter and no N, P or K in the soil from 4" down then it makes some sense to incorporate some compost into the subsoil through cultivation.
Also, if you live in a place where the annual rainfall is 14" then there really isn't a concern about mudholes or heavy downpours.
Point being that it's a great big country and sometimes the common rules about no till will work sometimes, someplaces but sometimes they won't.

In the fall, collect your neighbors' leaf bags from their trash. Dump a zillion bags of leaves on your garden in the fall. They'll begin rotting down. If you can get other things during the year, like grass clippings, pulled weeds (without seeds), etc., dump them on. Let any wood chips be on top. Plant in the underlying dirt, though, the first year. Once the additives become dirt, plant in those.

My space is at a premium in my 11' x 39' garden. I do this:
fence | 3' row | 1' path | 3' row | 1' path | 3' row | fence
with a 3' row across the two short ends, with a 1' cross path on each end and one cross path in the middle.

Last edited by Nan_PA_6b; December 26, 2018 at 12:32 AM.
Reason: plant in dirt

I was hoping to put tomatoes here, so in that case - it would be below. However, having never done this before, I'm not sure how well this is all going to break down by the time I would be putting tomatoes in - around April 15th or a little after.